Nicolet Plastics wins top manufacturing prize

Congratulations to injection molder Nicolet Plastics Inc., which received a top award in the annual Manufacturing Leadership 100 (ML100) Awards.

The Manufacturing Leadership 100 Awards honor companies and individuals that are shaping the future of global manufacturing.

Nicolet, which is based in Mountain, Wis., was named Small Manufacturer of the Year, and it also received an Operational Excellence Award.

A news release from Frost & Sullivan, which runs the contest, said he company was picked "for its success in reinventing itself as an ultra-responsive provider of low- and moderate-volume parts in the face of rising global competition using a system called Quick Response Manufacturing to improve every part of the company."

Nicolet was selected as the top overall project from among all 2013 ML100 Award winners with annual revenues of under $1 billion.

The company got to rub shoulders with some pretty big names in business. The other top firm honored was Ford Motor Co., and Diana Tremblay , vice president for North American manufacturing at General Motors, was named Manufacturing Leader of the Year.

Pretty exciting for a small injection molder founded in 1986 and located in an out-of-the-way place, a small town in the middle of the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest.

“On behalf of all the employees of Nicolet Plastics who helped win this award, thank you,” said Bob Macintosh, the company’s president and CEO. “Our customers are experiencing how we manufacture time for them, reducing lead times and reducing their costs with our commitment to Quick Response Manufacturing. It’s exciting to see that success and improvement recognized by the Manufacturing Leadership community.”